With the recent increase in population enjoying baseball, a so-called screen baseball system has emerged that overcomes the limitations of playing baseball in a wide baseball stadium and allows people to enjoy playing a virtual baseball game in a small indoor space while experiencing virtual reality.
Typically, a screen baseball system is installed in an indoor space and has a batter's box with a space of a predetermined size where a user can bat and a screen capable of displaying a virtual baseball field. When a pitching machine installed on the back of the screen pitches a ball toward the batter's box, a user preparing to hit the ball in the batter's box hits the ball pitched by the pitching machine. At this time, a sensing device senses movement of the pitched ball and movement of the ball hit by the user. Then, based on the result of sensing, it is determined whether the pitch is a ball or strike, and a simulation image of the trajectory of the hit ball is implemented on the screen.
In addition to the screen baseball system described above, various baseball practice apparatuses allowing the user in the batter's box to practice batting by hitting a ball pitched by a pitching machine are widely used.
Whether it is the screen baseball system described above or the baseball practice system for simple batting practice, the pitching machine in the system conventionally shoots a ball toward the batter's box when a user who is preparing to bat in the batter's box operates the fire switch installed in the batter's box.
In this regard, prior art documents such as Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0054105, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2015-0041861, and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0013688 disclose pitching a ball by a user's operation of a fire switch in the baseball practice system or the screen baseball system described above.
However, firing a ball by operation of the fire switch as disclosed in the conventional art causes inconvenience by requiring the user, who needs to concentrate on batting, to operate the switch, and significantly reduces immersion in baseball practice. Further, this method raises issues regarding malfunction and durability of the fire switch.